Mumbai, June 28 -- I stood at the red carpet of Jio World Plaza the other night, draped in a silhouette curated by none other than Muzaffar Ali himself--together with his daughter, Sama Ali, under the label they've given the world, House of Kotwara.

It wasn't just fabric--it was a mood, a moment, a memory stitched into shape. And as I turned and faced the towering poster of Umrao Jaan at the entrance, I paused.

For a heartbeat, maybe longer, I forgot where I was. I didn't see Suvir. I saw Umrao. I saw Rekha, swaying in twilight silks. I saw Farooq Shaikh, smouldering in the dignity of doomed love. I saw Naseeruddin Shah, his presence both brooding and oddly angelic.

I saw the shadows, the silences, the veil between then and now. And so...